Running by the River

15 December 2013 at Holiday Hussle , Dobbs Ferry, Judy Hull, John Hudak, and Sonya Terjanian

Living in the Rivertowns, we are lucky to have a State Park, the twenty-six mile long Old Croton Aqueduct, running right through our villages.  The trail is mostly flat, shaded by trees, and frequently affording wonderful views of the Hudson River and the Palisades Cliffs.  Many runners, including myself, cherish the ability to run in nature, unhindered by cars and their fumes.  Maybe you do, too;  maybe you’ve longed to;  maybe you tried to, but had pain, an injury, or just got out of breath too fast.

Do you remember in your childhood when you ran just for the pure joy of running?  You ran with your whole being, feeling your muscles working in synchronization, your arms, legs, and heart working together for the sole purpose of moving you forward.  When we age, our bodies get used to spending hours at a time in the same positions;  and as a consequence, our heads and shoulders curve forward and the muscles in our lower bodies are tightened and shortened, causing us to move in unbalanced ways; and when we run, gravity causes our feet to meet the earth with a force equal to three times our body weight.  If you aren’t running with proper form and technique, you will subject your joints and muscles to repetitive stress, leading to injury.

Many people start out with the idea that they must run as fast and as long as they can in order to gain the benefits of running, but after getting winded, out of breath, or finding themselves with sore or strained muscles, they stop running altogether, saying “I guess this isn’t for me.” People who start running programs for weight reduction, stress relief, or general health reasons need to start off slowly, working to build up an aerobic and muscular base in order to eventually get to the point where they can enjoy themselves running and experience it as being fun. 

Before anyone starts one of my running classes, they have a general fitness assessment to see where their joints might be out of alignment or holding tension, and what muscles need to be stretched or strengthened in order to run without injury.  I start my classes with dynamic warm-ups, moving and stretching our muscles to avoid straining muscles that are too tight, getting joints in motion and starting to move more blood through the body. 

We spend the bulk of class time outside running. At first, we run on a track, because it is easier and safer to concentrate on form than when running on a trail, where you also have to look out for holes, rocks, tree roots and other debris.  After a while, part or all of class time is spent on the aqueduct.  During class, I observe and correct running styles so I can later recommend exercises that help runners achieve and maintain good running form.  Posture tends to be the easiest problematic thing to correct:  people often lean too forward, bend their heads down, or hunch over forward, compressing the chest and lessening the amount of the air in each breath .  Opening up the chest and breathing deeply are the first things I emphasize.

I like learning about and using modern approaches to running that take advantage of research in exercise physiology.   One of the techniques I stress is running at a steady cadence (bpm, or beats per minute—or, in running, footfalls per minute).  Running with a quick, steady cadence, causes a runner to take shorter strides, eliminating over-striding, the common cause of Achilles tendonitis, shin splints, knee pain, or worse.  Eventually, runners can speed up their pace by slowly building muscle strength and lengthening their stride.

Every class ends with a series of cool-down stretches and recommended strengthening exercises that can be done at home after every run.  I suggest running or some other form of aerobic activity at least twice between weekly classes.  With the benefit of proper exercises and stretching, attention to form and technique, even the least athletic person can become a runner—and even run for the fun of it.

Presently, I have a class every Sunday at 9:30am, and will be adding a Saturday morning class in early Spring (April 2014).  All classes start at the gym where I work as a Certified Personal Trainer: Hero, 62 Main Street, Dobbs Ferry, NY  10522.  You can contact me via the contact link (the small envelope) at the top of this webpage.

Moving Forward

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The foot is the part of the body that comes in contact with the ground when we run, walk, and jump.  Over the years, I have wondered what happens to our bodies when we move on our feet.  Understanding which muscles are involved in moving forward yields the answer to why some of us develop soreness or pain after running or walking for extended periods.

“Just run,” a lot of my friends and acquaintances say.  This can work well for young people, because our joints, muscles and tendons are more resilient when we are young.  Young bodies can better withstand the repetitive motions we go through when propelling ourselves forward because they are better able to adapt to stress and are less vulnerable to being slightly out of balance, or, in bike lingo, “out of true.”

As our culture becomes more sedentary, certain muscles are under-used, and some are over-used. If you don't move your joints often enough, they begin to move less smoothly, and sometimes cause pain or soreness. Problems occur when we get out of alignment, and I find that this often starts with foot alignment, arch and toe strength.

When we are older, our muscles tend to get set in certain fixed ways, due to our habits of holding ourselves.  If we sit or stand a certain way at work, or in relaxation, or perform any repetitive motion, and then try to change the way we hold ourselves, things feel “wrong,” because they are different… not so “normal” to us. But it is never too late to improve the functioning of older bodies (or younger ones, for that matter).  I like to see how a body is unbalanced (or misaligned) and offer suggestions for change that can lead to easier, more efficient forward motion, because that is what running and walking is:  moving forward. 

The Easiest Correction

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Clients who are runners always ask me what kind of corrections they can easily make to improve their running form, and I tell them the number one and best correction you can make is to strive towards good posture.  I was standing in line at the supermarket this morning, and all the men in front of me looked like their necks were almost 90 degrees forward…like their heads were in front of their bodies.  It is like wearing an albatross around your neck all the time (bending your neck forward with the weight).  That is exactly what happens when your head is not in line with your body.  

These days, with people spending more and more time sitting at computer terminals hunched over forward (and head bent down looking at "smart" phones), more and more people are developing intermittent or chronic lower back, neck, or shoulder pain.  When the body stays in one position for long periods of time, the muscles start to feel comfortable in that position, and that position becomes the norm:  the head forward of the body, the shoulders forward; and for people who sit all the time, from the lower back  to the thighs, you have (depending on how you are sitting) a 90 degree angle,  and then from the thighs to the lower leg, another (usually less than) 90 degree angle.  This is the position the body gets accustomed to being in.

Ideal posture and alignment minimizes the amount of muscle and skeletal (joint) pain one has in life.  Even the slightest amount off from neutral alignment, and the joints start to get worn unevenly, like a car tire out of alignment wears unevenly.  Now if you add a repetitive motion like running to this misalignment, like the tire, the bones begin to wear at the joints unevenly.  Runners who are trying to avoid over striding usually aim to run at a cadence close to 180 foot falls per minute (the same as bpm, beats per minute in music).  An average jogging pace would be around 12 minutes per mile:  2,162 footfalls per minute.  Over time, this wears on the joints and stresses the muscles if they aren't aligned correctly.

To correct misalignment, you need to begin a regular routine of strengthening the muscles of the lower body (including the feet and ankles); the middle of the body (the core); and the upper body ending at the crown of your head.  Throughout life, you favor certain muscles, and neglect others, causing misalignment. To correct this imbalance, you need to begin a regular routine in which you, loosen the tight muscles, and strengthen the weak muscles, especially those of the lower body (including the feet and ankles); the middle of the body (the core); and the upper body ending at the crown of your head. ​ 

As a personal trainer, I can  create a daily routine tailored to your specific weaknesses and misalignments that I find in the posture screening I give every client, be they interested in just improving their posture or muscle strengthening specific to running.  Most of the common problems we see in the neck, back, hips, knees, ankles and feet, can be improved with persistence and perseverance in conditioning and exercise.  The hardest part is making exercise an integral part of your life, as important as eating food and drinking water.  You can easily begin doing push ups, squats, and side facing leg lifts.  The burpee is one of the best overall exercises.  See how many you can do, but not if you already have lower back problems or weak shoulders and arms.  If that is the case, you have to start with much easier exercises like push ups against the wall and step ups.

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Contact me for a free fitness assessment (including a detailed posture screening); make an appointment for a training session; or join one of my running classes on Saturday's at 9:30am (beginners), and Sunday's at 9:30am (beginners to intermediate).  I enjoy working with runners, because I am a runner myself.  I had gone through years of chronic lower back pain, being told that it was postural, but not thinking about strengthening the muscles related to posture.  One can always "stand up straight," but you can't just think yourself to better posture.  It hard to change bad habits...but a training plan is a great start.

Best,

John  

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